|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 2:00 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 3:45 pm
"I wanted you to know I love the way you laugh
I want to hold you high and steal your pain away..." July 4, 2017 The door clicked shut behind her as her bag slid from her shoulder to the floor of her apartment. Cordelia leaned back against the door in the darkness, eyes closed and mind wandering. She was drawn back to the here and now by the crackle and pop of fireworks fizzing in the distance. When her eyes opened it was to see a flash of color lighting the sky, raining down into sparkling arcs of glitter and gold. Her muscles were starting to ache; a reminder of the hard work that had gone into the game, and the long walk home that had followed dinner with Fritz. If it weren't for the narrow line that she'd already walked she might have suggested retiring somewhere peaceful to watch fireworks from a distance-- the rooftop of her apartment, maybe. Cordelia drew in a breath as she pushed away from the door to toe off her shoes. She rocked on her feet once they were off, stretching up onto her toes before settling back once more. Her jersey was the next thing to go once she'd locked the door behind her, peeled up and over her head before it was dropped to the floor. Fog clung to the mirror after her shower, the air thick with moisture. She reached out, drawing two dots and a curved line on the mirror before wiping the rest of the steam away so that she could see her reflection. Despite the ache and the thoughts, she was smiling at herself. She continued to do so as she brushed her hair out, plaiting it into a simple braid that would see her through the evening. Tonight had been something. It had been a start-- a do-over for a friendship she'd spent two months thinking that she'd lost. He'd smiled, they'd laughed. Stars and stones, she loved the way he laughed. She loved... "Bollocks." She stepped away from the mirror, refusing to acknowledge the doe-eyed dreamer she'd caught sight of briefly. She couldn't do that to herself, not yet... Not again. "Keep dreaming, Carden." [ Word Count: 344 ]
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 6:17 pm
June 18th, 2017 - Leavesden, Hertfordshire - England
"Darling," said his mother, rising from the breakfast table. "Are you sure you've eaten enough? You've hardly touched anything on your plate."
There was a pause, as the words took a few seconds to penetrate, and then Fritz lifted his head, startled out of his thoughts by a nudge from his father, sitting beside him. There was a surreptitious cough and a meaningful nod at the woman across the table.
"Oh," said Fritz, and then, hastily, "Yes, yes, I'm quite all right mother. You've no reason to worry, I've eaten enough for two all the time I've been here, I promise."
His mother was a tall, thin woman with red hair like her sons and a pale, freckled face with brown eyes that were, at this very moment, looking rather worried about one of those aforementioned sons. By contrast, his father was a dark haired, portly man with a belly laugh and a cheerful disposition about his lack of resemblance to the three redheads, and who currently was hiding behind the daily paper.
Fritz hadn't seen either of them in close to two years, not since he and Rhys had come back for Christmas. He got along with them well enough, but he'd had no reason to come back - and besides, it was already difficult having to explain why his twin brother now went by a completely different name. The last thing he wanted was them to worry about him.
Especially because, at present, he was too full of worry himself.
His mother cast a glance at his father, then back to her son again.
"I just...you came here so unexpectedly," she said. "I would've thought you'd had...classes or something."
Fritz felt his face redden ever so slightly. "No, that's...no, I'm on break, Mother. Really, everything is fine." He flashed her what was clearly meant to be a reassuring smile. "I promise. I just missed you and Dad, that's all, so I'd thought I'd pop in for a visit."
He pushed himself away from the table and picked up his plate to carry to the kitchen, bending to kiss her forehead affectionately.
"Really. Everything's fine."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 6:24 pm
July 4th, 2017 - Destiny City
He hadn't expected to see her.
It was still a little bit of a shock. Fritz was trying very, very hard not to think too hard about it, trying not to think about the fleeting, warm smiles, or the fact that she'd seemed almost as nervous as he was. Months had passed since they'd last seen; and while he'd sent her messages, letters, texts, they'd been few and far between. Casual and lighthearted updates just so she knew there was nothing to be concerned about.
There was always something to be concerned about.
He pressed his back against the closed door of his loft and closed his eyes, a hand pressing against his mouth, face feeling flushed. Crook came meandering towards him, curling around his legs, weaving in and out in an expectant movement of pets and food, but none followed.
Fritz was still trying to remember how to breathe.
He'd tried so hard, so very, very hard, to not let this happen. To pretend that it was fine. To tell himself that it was all just a made up story in his head, to remind himself that thinking too much on this was just going to, inevitably, end up badly for everyone involved. He'd left for England because he'd needed the time away.
It was supposed to have worked.
It didn't.
Fritz slowly slid down the door until he was sitting on the floor, legs drawn up against his chest. His forehead dropped to his knees, breathing a struggle to keep slow, deep and even as Fritz's eyes fell shut. Crook came up and put a paw on his ankle, then rubbed against it.
It hadn't worked, and now he had no idea what to do.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 6:33 pm
July 15th, 2017
This was stupid.
He was stupid.
Even as he thought it, the currently invisible oath mark on his neck gave a warning twinge; a reminder of his pact, his promise. Fritz lifted a hand and absently brushed fingers over his throat before letting it drop again, staring dismally at the cell phone currently in his hand. It was an old model - of course it was - nothing fancy, no touch screen, no keyboard. Just the cheapest and most basic he could possibly find that wasn't completely a rock.
It was stupid, really, to be so confused and concerned about a text.
(It wasn't entirely - he hated phones. And televisions. And computers. And really, almost all technology ever, but that wasn't actually why it was stupid this time.)
Finally, he sent a message.
(It was a very short message.)
To Cordelia:
Today a crow tried to eat my lunch. Tell your friends to leave my sandwich alone.
And then, after a moment, another:
Text to Cordelia:
: (
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 6:53 pm
July 15th, 2017 Her phone buzzed in her locker at work, left unattended to throughout the length of a shift that had both flown by and gone on for far too long. She checked her phone as she stepped out of her heels, giving her feet a moment to rest before she stuffed them into a pair of flats for the trip home. The text from Fritz drew a soft laugh from her, the comments from one of her coworkers drawing a fresh flush to already rosy cheeks. It took a moment to find the image she was looking for, attaching a gif to the text to forward it his way. Text to Fritz:img file download? y/nText to Fritz: Crows are highly intelligent. Bring another sandwich next time? Tucking her phone back into her bag, Cordelia resumed changing back into her regular street clothes, ready to be done with frilled skirts and corsets for the night.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 7:16 pm
June 20th, 2017 - Leavesden, Hertfordshire - England
"Are you ever coming back?"
Rhys's voice sounded worried - but then again, Rhys's voice always sounded worried. He was the type of person who worried constantly, about everyone and everything, which was why Fritz both loved him and was annoyed by his twin brother.
"Of course I'm coming back, what sort of question is that?" Fritz absently tugged at a leaf of the flower arrangement on the table, the hall of their childhood home stretching out in front of him. It wasn't an enormous house, but it was comfortable and it was well taken care of. "I'm only visiting for a short time."
"You say that, but you left rather suddenly," Rhys pointed out. Fritz could hear loud, noisy singing in the background, which usually meant that Hitch was cooking again. "I thought something might have happened to you, since you didn't even say goodbye."
There was perhaps a little hurt there. Fritz winced.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to..." He trailed off, feeling remarkably inadequate.
A short silence followed and then Rhys said gently, "Well, just let me know when you come back, all right?"
"I promise."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 7:22 pm
July 15th, 2017
He hadn't expected to get a message back so quickly. Fritz almost dropped the phone in his attempts at replying, and when he finally did, it was to discover that Cordelia had sent an image, somehow. He pressed a button with the intent of downloading it, whatever that entailed, and somehow ended up with something beeping.
"Er. Wendell?"
It took some twenty minutes and a great deal of Wendell's continued and enthusiastic patience and intellect in order to finally figure out how to open the bloody file, and finally, as he did, Fritz found a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
He typed a message back.
Text to Cordelia:
But I wasn't expecting to have it stolen. : ( Also that is a nice p
The rest of Fritz's text was cut off as he accidentally turned his phone off again.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 7:24 pm
August 8th, 2017
The stack of donuts was enormous. Fritz stared at it.
"I was under the impression the name Donut Tower was an exaggeration, but I stand corrected. This is, in fact, quite an impressive tower of donuts."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 7:36 pm
"The worst is over now and we can breathe again..."
August 4, 2017 A month. An entire month. Thirty days since they'd started their friendship over again in person. It felt like nothing. It felt like forever. The texts came more frequently now than they had when he was gone; little things that made her remember to smile and forget... Cordelia rolled her eyes as she reached across her desk to lay flat the framed picture that Lucien had taken of she and Fritz dancing at the Destiny Star Gala. It was hard to keep forgetting with the photo staring back at her-- hard not to think of a lot of things. At least she had finally remembered how to breathe...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 7:39 pm
August 8th, 2017 "I think I want..... This one," she said with a delightfully wicked grin, bringing one hand up to brace the tower as she went for one of the vanilla frosted donuts with rainbow sprinkles somewhere near the bottom of the pile. Nothing was ever easy where Cordelia Carden was involved.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 7:51 pm
August 7th, 2017
He was supposed to be meeting Cordelia the following day, but Fritz was having a terrible time in trying to actually work up the nerve for more than that. He'd at least been regularly speaking to her now, even if it was just through text messages sometimes. It was easier to do that than to be face to face, which could be overwhelming.
He took a breath, sighed and reminded himself that everything was fine.
(He wasn't quite sure he believed it.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 7:55 pm
June 1st, 2017 Her heart was aching and she'd drawn into herself again, distancing herself from all of the usual distractions. Each Sunday she returned to Corvus, using that as the one constant thing beyond her scheduled shifts at work. The routine of it all pushed her forward-- or had, until it had stopped. Due to a early summer thunderstorm that had knocked out power and taken out a fuse or two the Cat's Paw was left without AC. While the argument could be made that those employed by the Paw, both serving staff and entertainers alike, didn't wear that much it was agreed upon that the patrons (and kitchen staff) were better off without the inconvenience of being hot (as opposed to attractively so, or even 'hot and bothered'). As a result she'd been left with a night off-- a night off and nothing to do save for curl up on her couch while staring at a phone that hadn't chimed in more days than she wanted to count. She reached for it, fingers closing around the plastic before one slid across the screen to unlock it. No new messages. Without a message to respond to she started another of her own. Text to Fritz: I miss you. She deleted it one letter at a time, starting again. I really miss you. Again, the message was deleted, teeth worrying into her lip as she stared at the screen and tried once more. I wish you were here so I could tell you that I was sorry.That last message stayed on her screen the longest before it too was erased and one more draft was composed before she finally sent it through. Text to Fritz: Please just let me know that you're alright.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 8:32 pm
August 8th, 2017
Of course she picked the one on the bottom most tier. Fritz let out a laugh, poking at one of the middle donuts with the end of a fork. The diner was busy even at close to ten at night, but it was bright, cheerful place with lots of smiling waiters and waitresses and happy music playing from an old fashioned jukebox in the corner.
"Donuts after a long day's work seems a reasonable prize," said Fritz, prodding now at one of the honey crullers. "What say you, Lady Carden?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2017 8:57 pm
August 8th, 2017 The diner was one of her favorite places to come after a late night at work or, in this case, after a quick patrol around the park. "I say..." her eyes lifted to meet his as she pried at least half of her donut free without toppling the tower, setting it on the small, round plate in front of her as she reached for her freshly refilled cup of coffee, "the company this evening is the most pleasant prize. The donuts are but a pleasant add on, Sir." Taking a sip from her cup she set it back down on the table before standing. "I've got a quarter for the jukebox. Any requests?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
